51s fall behind early, rally past River Cats
After two consecutive days of postponements, the third time was the charm for the 51s who finally got a game in on Monday.
With no rain in sight Monday, the 51s took the opener of their four-game series against the Sacramento River Cats with a 5-2 comeback win to improve to 2-1 on the season.
“Two days isn’t too bad. It’s kind of weird in our schedule, especially being here in Vegas,” center fielder Brandon Nimmo said. “I didn’t even know that it really rained like that in Vegas. But after the rainouts, it’s been good to get back.”
But after finally taking the field for the first time since Friday, the 51s fell behind immediately.
Gabriel Ynoa, making his Triple-A debut, walked the first batter of the game. The next hitter, Ryan Lollis, tripled and after a Mac Williamson groundout, the 51s were behind two runs just three batters into the game.
But the two runs were all that Ynoa would give up in five innings, even though the River Cats had the leadoff man aboard in the first three innings.
“He was able to make quality pitches when he really needed to after the damage had already been done early in the inning,” manager Wally Backman said. “I think he showed that he’s capable of pitching out of a jam. … I know that he was like 93-95 (mph) so he does have really good stuff and he had good composure.”
And while Ynoa held the River Cats down for the next four innings, the 51s finally broke through in the fifth with Ty Kelly just missing a home run and settling for a sacrifice fly.
“There would have probably been three home runs if it was a normal Vegas day. Even in April because usually this time of year, the last three years I’ve been here, it’s warm,” Backman said. “June and July, I guarantee those are home runs.”
An inning later, the 51s rallied for two more runs, stringing together four straight hits — all with two outs. Both first baseman Marc Krauss and center fielder Nimmo, who finished the game 3-for-4, drove in runs in the inning.
“Getting three hits is always nice so you always feel locked in after that, but I think that just the main thing is just getting comfortable out at the plate again,” said Nimmo, who missed most of spring training with an injury.
Kelly added a couple of insurance runs in the eighth inning with a double, his second of the game, to put the game out of reach.
Four relievers provided the 51s with a combined four innings and Paul Sewald, a Bishop Gorman High School product, picked up his first Triple-A save, pitching a clean ninth inning.
“The bullpen at the end of the game was outstanding. … I said it I think at the start of the year that our bullpen is really going to be key for us,” Backman said. “We got some big timely hits. … Overall it was a solid game defensively; offensively, we got some key hits in big spots.”
Betsy Helfand can be reached at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow on Twitter: @BetsyHelfand
